Islam

HISTORICAL NOTES on ISLAM

Orville Boyd Jenkins

Muhammad was born about 570 in Mecca, son of Abdul Allah of the Hashimite branch of the Quraysh tribe. After his parents died when he was age 6, he was raised by his uncle Abu Talib. He traveled with his uncle, and first visited Syria at age 12.

A rich widow named Khadija hired him to run her trading business, then
married him, when he was 25. He began to go to Mt. Hira (Heira), a hill not far from Mecca, for meditation. It was there he began to have his visions and finally felt called as a prophet. After Khadija's death, Muhammad married Aisha, a virgin. He later married other wives, all widows. Muhammad was 50 years old at Aisha's death.

Muhammad's Ministry

Muhammad had a high moral concern. He was convicted about the immorality and barbarism of his people. In the year 610, he testified that Gabriel had appeared to him and announced his call to be a prophet/preacher. The night he received his call on Mt. Hira is called the Night of Power, Lailat ul-Qadar. His religion initially appealed to slaves and poor.

Opposition developed because so much of Mecca's business related to idolatry. Muhammad was protected by Abu Talib against Quraysh opposition. In 622 after Abu Talib had succumbed to pressure to withdraw his protection, Muhammad was forced to flee for his life (to Medinah). This flight, or hijjra, is the beginning for the Islamic era. The Muslim calendar is dated from the hijjra.

Mecca was a commercial and religious center, the site of pilgrimage from ancient times. Muhammad's whole clan were traders. In fact that is the meaning of the clan name Quraysh. This was actually his father's clan and city. His mother's home was Medinah, an agricultural center.

Jews were strong in Medinah, and initially he experienced a good reception there. In a short time he began to implement his vision of uniting all monotheists. The Constitution of Medinah, an agreement between all the tribes of Medinah, established Muhammad as ruler of all inhabitants. This is the beginning of the Muslim umma.

1800-1900 - European colonial expansion: France and Britain in North Africa;
Russia in Islamic Central Asia; Holland in Indonesia
1801 - Britain and the Ottomans are allied to force a French withdrawal
from invaded Egypt
1829 - The Greek revolution, assisted by Russia, Britain and France, succeeds
in liberating Greece from the Turkish-Egyptian Ottoman Empire 1833 - Turkish
Sultan requests Russian assistance to put down invasion of Mehmet Ali, Pasha
of Egypt, and subsequently places Turkey under Russian military guardianship
1855 - Russian Tsar Alexander II relinquishes claims to Turkish affairs
after war with Turkey, Great Britain and France
1858 - The British Empire annexes the former Moghul Empire, after domination
since 1800
1873 - Turkic Khanate of Khiva, the last Turkish province outside Turkey,
falls to Russia
1881 - Britain defeats the rebel army of Muhammad Ahmad, the "Mahdi" who
controlled the Southern half of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
1882 - Britain Occupies Egypt to restore civil order

A New World Map

1901 - 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Su'ud (Sa'ud) captures Riyadh and establishes
the Sa'ud dynasty in Arabia
1908 - Young Turk revolt in Turkey
1914 - Britain establishes a protectorate over Egypt after Ottoman Turkey
declares war on the Allies
1914-1918 - Turkey (Ottoman Caliphate) is the ally of Imperial Germany
in World War I
1916 - Arab revolt against Turkey, supported by the British
1916 - Greater Syria divided between Fance and Britain; Iraq protectorate established by Britain
1918-45 - After World War I, European powers continue to occupy most Arab/Muslim lands, especially France and Great Britain, under League of Nation mandates
1920 - Thrace and Anatolia (containing Constantinople/Istanbul) are ceded
from Turkey to Greece by the Treaty of Sevres after WWI
1921-22 - Turkish "war of liberation" recovers land ceded in treaty; reconquers Armenia and eastern Turkey.
1922 - Egypt gains independence from Britain, but British troops remain to protect British use of the Suez Canal
1923 - Kemal Ataturk, leader of the "Young Turks," overthrows the Ottoman
Caliphate, secularizes Turkey and withdraws Turkey from Arab/Muslim relations, promoting Westernization
1923 - The Treaty of Lausanne, between Turkey and the Allies, restores
Thrace and Antolia to Turkey, after the Greco-Turkish War
1924 - Ibn Saud establishes rule over most of the Arabian Peninsula
1932 - Iraq granted independence
1944 - Neutral Turkey joins Allies against the Axis powers

Middle East Focus

1945 - Formation of Arab League
1947 - Britain divides Indian sub-continent into India and Muslim Pakistan
1948 - Arab-Israeli War
1952 - Turkey and Greece join NATO; Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrows the
Egyptian monarchy, proclaiming a republic
1956 - Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal
1963 - Turkey becomes an associate member of the European Community
1967 - Israel fights the 6-day war with all its Arab neighbors, taking portions of Syria, Jordan and Egypt, in an effort to force an agreement on "defensible borders" for Israel.
1970s-80s - Muslim activists conduct campaign of bombings in various parts of the world
1979 - US President Carter effects a treaty between Egypt and Israel
1991 - UN approves US invasion of Iraq in retaliation for annexation of Kuwait
1991-2003 - Iraq remains under UN sanctions and air supervision, pending compliance with UN requirements to reveal and destroy all "weapons of mass destruction"
2003 - US, in its "War on Terrorism," unilaterally invades Iraq against UN protests in order to discover "weapons of mass destruction" and depose Saddam Hussein
2004 - US and a few allies attempt to pacify Iraq, as unrest and violent opposition grows over perceived lack of US progress in restoring the nation

OBJ

Includes material originally published in An Outline Introduction to Islam (Nairobi: Communication Press, 1991.)
First posted on Thoughts and Resources 22 February 2003
Last updated 16 July 2011